Update on Digital Cooperation between Singapore and Indonesia through Nongsa Digital Park and its Outlook

4 Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) whether an update can be provided on the digital cooperation between Singapore and Indonesia through the Nongsa Digital Park (NDP) and its outlook; (b) whether the cooperation in the NDP special economic zone has led to higher growth for Singapore’s information communication technology sector; and (c) how much has this cooperation led to more jobs and opportunities for Singaporeans.

The Minister of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Low Yen Ling) (for the Minister for Trade and Industry): Mr Speaker, Sir, Nongsa Digital Park is a commercial project in Batam attracting and housing tech talents to support the needs of companies in Singapore and Southeast Asia. Nongsa Digital Park is doing well. Around 1,000 tech talents in Nongsa Digital Park are currently servicing some 250 Singapore-based companies.

Singapore-based data centre players, such as Princeton Digital Group, GDS Holdings and Gaw Capital, have also announced data centre investments in Nongsa Digital Park to serve Southeast Asia. These projects support Singapore and Indonesia’s digital economies and create jobs for both countries.

Mr Speaker: Mr Saktiandi Supaat.

Mr Saktiandi Supaat (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister of State for her reply. It is good to hear that there are 1,000 tech talents involved. But can I ask the Minister of State two supplementary questions?

First, can the Minister of State elaborate further on the type of sectors that the 250 companies come from? My second supplementary question is, can the Minister of State also give us an update on the Nongsa Digital Town she mentioned? How is this digital bridge helping Singapore-based companies access the growth of Indonesia's digital economy?

Ms Low Yen Ling: Mr Speaker, I want to thank the Member Mr Saktiandi Supaat for his two supplementary questions. If I could elaborate and share a bit of context, Nongsa Digital Park is Singapore's digital bridge to Indonesia's digital economy. Many will remember it was launched in 2018. It has only been five years and for most of the five years, we were mired in the pandemic. Despite that, it now serves about 250 Singapore-based companies.

The close proximity of Batam, Bintan, Karimun – which we refer to as the BBK region in short – and the park's status as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), these two key factors offer our Singapore-based companies advantages to tap the promising growth opportunities of Indonesia's growing digital economy.

He asked about the profile and the sector. I am happy to update him that the 250 Singapore-based companies that I have shared earlier in my reply harness the tech talent services in Nongsa Digital Park and they include multinational corporations (MNCs), small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as startups from industries such as the financial sector, digital and creative media as well as software engineering, just to name a few.

I will cite a few companies, just to give him a sensing. Some of these big companies are AIA Singapore, which is an insurance MNC; Infinite Studios, which is a media company; and Infineon, a semi-conductor MNC. And another quick example is VA Insight, which is a Singapore-based software engineering company.

As for his question about other sectors, earlier on in my main reply, I talked about data centres and the three quick examples I shared – GDS Holdings, Princeton Digital Group as well as Gaw Capital – all these are important projects during this time. It is a vote of confidence in the potential of the Nongsa Digital Park.

I must specify that there is a difference between the Nongsa Digital Park, under which there is a launch of the Nongsa Digital Town. The Nongsa Digital Town, if you remember, was only launched two years ago by Minister Chan Chun Sing, in his capacity in the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), and his counterpart. The objective of the Nongsa Digital Town really is to further bridge the tech companies and talent in Singapore and Indonesia. I am happy to share that the Nongsa Digital Town is actually designed by Surbana Jurong, and in close partnership, developed by PT Citra Sinar Global.

He asked in the second supplementary question about the progress. It has been two years, it is undergoing construction and when completed, the Nongsa Digital Town will house an additional 8,000 tech talents that will continue to serve Singapore-based companies. The Nongsa Digital Town will have co-working spaces, digital training centres, offices, lifestyle centres and hotels for business travellers. The initial phase of the development – there is one interesting development called The Hive, and it will be completed in the second half of next year. When completed, it will comprise a mixed development of food and beverage (F&B) outlets, co-working spaces and also community spaces.

So, I want to use this platform to assure Mr Saktiandi Supaat that MTI and our economic agencies will certainly work closely with our Indonesian counterparts and industry stakeholders to continue to expand partnership between Singapore-based companies and the BBK region. We will do so by leveraging the complementary strengths of Singapore and the BBK region – I mentioned the close proximity – and also identify mutually beneficial opportunities in Indonesia's digital economy.